LANE BALLARD
The Children’s Hospital in Seattle, Washington has a Recreational Therapy Department (RTD). The purpose of the RTD is to help patients and their families cope with the hospital experience. The principles and practice of recreational therapy utilize play and leisure in the treatment and recovery process. Through play, children develop skills, discover themselves and learn to relate to their world. Three play sessions daily are held for ages 0 – 11 years and older patients, ages 12-21 – the Teen Zone.
Lane Ballard is a manufacturing engineer during the week with the Boeing Company; however, he has committed his Sundays to the Children’s Hospital. Ballard volunteers in the RTD where he is used as an active provider of normalizing play .He plays with patients and their sibling in the playroom or works with them with arts and crafts. Those youngsters who are not mobile receive a special visit from Ballard in their rooms. Ballard also commits his Wednesday evenings to the hospital’s Teen Zone program. He gets a list of all the patients between the ages of 12 and 21 and visits each one. Ballard can be seen getting a favorite movie or game for them to use in their rooms or “hanging” out in the Teen Zone with their youths.
Ballard has a strong desire to make a difference in the lives of children, especially those who are ill. Because of this, he also spends his vacation time at the Stanley Stamm Children’s Camp near Enumclaw. This is a camp for children who have been patients at Children’s Hospital, but they have medical needs that make it impossible for them to participate in regular camp programs. Ballard handles the camp’s sports and recreations programs as well as assisting in providing round-the-clock care by helping dispense medication; feed children and helping the youth meet personal hygiene needs.
FareStart is a nonprofit organization that is focused on training homeless men and women for careers in the restaurant business. This great step will lead them to self-sufficiency. Each week, FareStart has a guest chef night with local restaurants providing a chef who works with the trainees to prepare a meal. The volunteers run the “customer” side of the restaurant. They wait tales and set guests. Though Ballard is not proficient in waiting tables, he still gives of his time for the program and donates all the tips towards FareStart.
Ballard’s efficiency as a volunteer has resulted in the Children’s Hospital asking new volunteers to come in during his shift. They then ask Ballard to help orient and train the other adults. He teaches them the importance of punctuality, self-confidence, compassion and trust as it relates to the patients they will serve.
Ballard has also participated in Boeing’ s World of Motion where he taught 4th grader Science during an eight-week period. He has also volunteered in the Special Olympics Summer Games.
LITERACY VOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA, NEWARK AND ESSEX COUNTY
The United States is the richest and most prosperous nation; however, there are many living here who cannot read. The Literacy Volunteers of America, Newark and Essex County (LVA) were founded to meet a social need; their mission was to teach people to read. LVA is a nonprofit, volunteer educational organization dedicated to addressing adult literacy and problems related to the same. The main offices are located on the campuses of Seton Hall University, South Orange and Essex County College, Newark. LVA provides free literacy services to adults 15 years and older. The services include instruction in basic literacy, English conversation and family literacy.
There are various groups who are served by LVA. Adult students participating in the Basic Literacy program have been identified as reading below the 6th grade. The adult students in the English Conversation program have been recognized as needing to learn to understand, speak and write English in a more proficient manner. The students that take part in the Family Literacy program read at a low level and have children who have learning difficulties. In addition, all adult students have the opportunity to develop employment and life-coping skills as well as a working knowledge of community resources available in their area.
LVA wishes to provide a comprehensive program in basic reading and English conversation. To accomplish this, LVA recruits and trains volunteer tutors. They have pre-test, post- test and instructs adult students along with providing continued in-service training to tutors. LVA also provides peer group seminars for students and tutors and ongoing communication with the community it serves. LVA believes once the students have gained the valuable basic skills, a knowledge of their community resources, and life-coping skills, they will be better able to effect their personal, educational and career goals.
LVA has developed a family literacy model designed to complement existing adult literacy programs to further provide an all-inclusive program in family literacy. “Reading With Children” (RWC) forms the basis of this model. RWC’s target audience is pre-school and elementary school children, adults who read at 1QW levels and professional teaching staff. The RWC training model uses seven simple reading strategies that professional staff and parents alike are trained to use as they work as a team to teach children. The parents will hopefully become motivated to participate as students in the Basic Literacy or ESL programs of LVA.
LVA is aware they will be more effective if they mobilize resources and network. Thus, they have formed many partnerships with community agencies to reach their goals. Some of their community partners are: Babyland Family Services, East Orange Department of Human Services, East Orange High Schools, East Orange Public Library, Essex County College, FOCUS/Hispanic Community Center of Newark, Haitian Center of Irvington, Ironbound Community Corporation of Newark, La Casa of Newark, The Leaguers, Newark Adult School, Newark Preschool Council, and New Jersey Department of Education.
NITA JONES
In her present position as Associate State Coordinator for Community Operations (ASCCO) for West Los Angeles County, Nita Jones has consistently demonstrated the skills, sensitivity, creativity and insight AARP California seeks in its community leaders.
Jones worked for many years in the private sector as an accountant. She spent 10 years with Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) employed as an Administrative Assistant and Director. Since retiring in 1992, Jones has become a full time volunteer. Her energies are divided between Vermont Square United Methodist Church where she has been an active member for more than 20 years and AARP where she has been past president and Membership Chairperson of the Carson Chapter #3320. In addition to her current assignment as ASSCO for AARP, Jones along with her husband, Henderson, is involved with the California Congress of Seniors and the Retired Teamsters Association.
In her leadership role, Jones helps organize and recruit AARP volunteers for major events such as the Martin King Luther Day Parade, Fiesta Broadway, Tournament of Roses Float Viewing, and Modern Maturity Mall shows, to name a few. She continuously manages numerous community activities. Her resourcefulness resulted in successful partnerships with the Children’s Defense Fund and L.A. County for Public Benefits Outreach projects in East Los Angeles and with the National Association of Black Nurses during their national convention & health fair in South Central Los Angeles. She mobilizes large groups of volunteers who repeatedly provide the services and deliver the information needed to improve the quality of life for persons 50+, their families and caretakers. Examples include the L.A. Mayor’s Forum where volunteers from various AARP entities, such as 55 Alive, Tax Aide, and Chapters, including non-English speaking individuals dressed in their traditional cultural garbs, worked side by side and sent a message of integration, inclusion and acceptance.
During the past year, Jones interacted with 1) grassroots, political and religious leaders in the community, 2) city, county and state government officials, 3) local neighborhood groups, 4) service organizations and social change agencies. She has built a network of persons and groups that work in concert to make a difference for persons who live in the multi-cultured communities of her West Los Angeles County discipline. Her high work standards, strong people skills and sense of fairness are reasons she is well respected by volunteers, community partners and the staffs with whom she frequently participates.
Jones is a trusted and respected community volunteer because she is a good listener and keeps her promises. Her personal and timely communication helps volunteers, particularly multi-cultured groups of African Americans, Latinos, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and other ethnicities that make up the diverse communities of West Los Angeles County focus on a common vision, eagerly participate and have fun together. Bottom line, individuals in the community benefit because of Nita’s caring and accomplished leadership.
EDWIN DANKWORTH
Ed Dankworth, a retired Navy Officer, was sitting in his home reading the New York Times and came across an article about language development in young children. He read about the appalling discrepancy in language development between young children of college professors and young children of parents dependent on public aid. Not only did he learn of the difference, but also he was also inspired that there was a solution for equalization – greater language exposure, interaction and stimulation. Dankworth concluded that a home visitation strategy would allow the kind of modeling of parenting behaviors needed to stimulate language development.
After the initial idea, he then took his cause to important agencies and people to participate in a work group, the Smart Healthy Babies Work Group. The work group completed a community needs assessment in March 1999, and the two most salient findings were in education and health. Based on their specific findings, the work group determined that its first priority was to establish a home visit program. Dankworth worked for more than three years on a committee to make his dream for the entire city come true – Smart Healthy Babies Home Visit Program (SHBHVP).
The Goal of SHBHVP is to provide support, information and education to all new parents to promote positive parenting, healthy child development and increased utilization of existing preventive health and social services. Their overall objectives are to provide an orientation to the home visitation program to all new parents in Alameda, to provide one to three home visits to those parents who identify a desire and need for a home visit, to engage a subset of those parents who are in need and want additional visits, to link new parents with available and appropriate community services, to increase the percentage of confident supported new parents, to increase the amount of time new parents engage in developmentally focused activities and to improve parent-infant interaction through modeling and teaching.
SHBHVP also wants to ensure all new parents are linked with a primary health care provider for their child. They ensure a link to a family planning service in order to plan the spacing of subsequent pregnancies, and they increase the percentage of low-income parents enrolled in a health plan such as Med-Cal or Healthy Families. Dankworth has made a huge impact on the city of Alameda and many refer to him as “The Grandfather.” His participation with SHBHVP along with his other volunteer involvements affects the lives of children, youth and their families throughout the community of Alameda. Dankworth has spent and spends endless hours recruiting political, financial and volunteer support for SHBHVP, and he works directly with the program to expand and improve its services.
Dankworth truly listens to people and reaches out to others who may know more about an issue to find out how he can facilitate change. He was never trained in the field of child development, but his efforts were undaunted and focused on positive change. Moreover, Dankworth serves on the Social Services, Human Relations Board of the City of Alameda.
CAMPTOWN, INC.
Children have so many choices to make day to day. There are negative influences coming at them from every angle; life is tough for many children today. They are bombarded with pressures from what they see on the television, hear on the radio and see on the streets. Unfortunately, some children do not have a support network and they fall between the cracks. Many choices youth make today impact their tomorrow.
In 1991, Tom Lehman began to create what would become Camptown, Inc. He was able to leave his place of employment in 1993 to work full-time for Camptown. The mission of the nonprofit organization is to make a positive difference in the lives of youth. Camptown was founded to provide underprivileged youth in the Indianapolis area with the opportunity to develop wholly as young people. The goal of Camptown is to enrich the lives of the children so much that they will learn to make positive decisions and realize how their decision making process can shape their lives.
Camptown allows youth to plan and lead a wilderness adventure trip of their choice. They get to choose the location, types of activities they will do and plan their living needs for the duration of the trip. Many of the children have never been out of the city, and it provides a place for students to develop a positive self-image, build their confidence and develop life skills. Camptown is not a traditional camp experience. It concentrates more on developing leadership skills that the children can use all of their life. The staff plans wilderness outings that are centered on hiking trips along mountain trails.
Moreover, the camp teaches teamwork. The children learn how to work together and understand the importance of having someone to depend on them and having to depend on someone else. The children leave the camp with a positive self-image; they realize they are special. Campers also have projects that help them build self-confidence. Camptown’s beliefs are based on Christian principles and encourage youth to get involved with local churches. Positive role models and the experience of the outdoors challenge each youth mentally, physically, socially and spiritually.
Some of the youth have remained so involved in the Camptown organization that they have become Youth Leaders for new trip-goers in the following years. During the off-season, Camptown is just as busy planning for the next year and providing training classes, after school workshops and fundraisers to prepare for the upcoming season.
Since its inception, Camptown has grown tremendously. In 1993, they had 60 campers; in 1994, there were 97 campers; and in 1995, there were 150 youth involved in the program. By the year 2000, there were 400 youth at camp. All the growth is unduplicated youth. The participants come from area churches, after school programs, school programs, alternative schools and group homes. Big Brothers and other camps have used Camptown for a reward or part of their youth leadership program.
LEELA SHANKAR
The Growing In-Home Volunteer Effort (GIVE) program provides in-home support for frail seniors and disabled people of all ages. Its volunteers are 18 years and older and provide shopping assistance, transportation, friendly visits and respite care in addition to yard work and light meal preparation.
Leela Shankar is a GIVE volunteer and accepts a variety of responsibilities. Shankar performs multiple tasks to enhance the lives of others. She provided approximately 1,000 hours of service last year, which would translate to $14,830 worth of assistance to those in need.
A homebound senior with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and a broken hip was one recipient of Shankar’s service. She ran errands, provided year around lawn care, (even planted a garden of vegetables and flowers for the senior's dining and viewing pleasure), and made regular trips to visit the woman when she was hospitalized.
Shankar spends 10 hours a week with a Davenport college and a Western Michigan University student. They are both visually impaired and need her assistance to continue with their studies effectively. She reads course work, researches the internet, writes checks to pay bills, prepares them for taking tests and provides additional assistance as needed. She also helped a senior who is legally blind by reading her mail, writing checks for her, mailing her bills, organizing her home, setting up computer applications and occasionally running errands. Pet and house sitting while the owner is out of town has been another volunteer experience that Shankar offered when that assistance was needed.
Recipients of Shankar’s volunteer assistance live more comfortably because of her efforts. The students who are blind and studying to become professionals would not be able to afford the services that Shankar provides for free. They believe her assistance is very important to their future academic success.
The senior who is legally blind needed her computer to provide music education for elementary school children. After purchasing the Macintosh, she realized continual programming assistance would be needed because of her failing vision. It was not used until Shankar began to make weekly visits and provide regular computer assistance. The pleased recipient was then able to continue her volunteer work teaching children music appreciation.
Shankar, a doctoral student, is from India and has been in the United States for 10 years. Despite major cultural differences and the time and energy required of a student, she found the means to be of service to others. She has compassion for those in need and a strong desire to help overcome any obstacles she encountered. Shankar feels her volunteer experiences have positively influenced her life and that each volunteer experience is a valuable and useful tool that she can utilize when returning to India.
DARE TO DREAM KIDS CARE CLUB OF GRINNELL SCHOOL
Dare to Dream Kids Care Club is a national, nonprofit organization out of New Canaan, Connecticut. A mother who wanted to instill charity and a volunteering spirit in her own children started Kids Care Club. It has now become a large group of 300 clubs across the country with an estimated 20,000 children participating. Local clubs can choose activities to suit their community needs with ideas and packets coming from the Kids Care Club main office.
Six years ago, Grinnell School had a dream and formed the Dare to Dream Kids Care Club. Now they are a group of 90 children ages 6 – 12 that meet every six weeks to coordinate and complete a variety of public service activities. Over the years they have supported their local community with charitable acts by replenishing the local soup kitchen with canned items and toiletries and donating numerous “Friendship Boxes” to a local battered women’s shelter. They donate money to local families whose children have battled cancer.
On the national level, they mail books to children who lost everything to flooding in Kentucky and Ohio. The Club made a school-wide “Chain For Life” to support the families in Littleton, Colorado. On the international level, Kids Care sponsored a school-wide collection of toys, socks and soap for the Kosovo refugee children. The meeting in December included a speaker from the Salvation Army. Lt. Tracy Hughes spoke to the children about their “Toy Shop”. This program is designed to assist needy families in various areas by providing Christmas gifts for their children. Families can be assured that their children will have at least two presents to open on Christmas morning. The club members sponsored a school-wide toy drive for two weeks in December and over 145 gifts were collected.
A small company in a neighboring town learned of the spirit of volunteering and charity and donated $500 to the Salvation Army’s “Kids Cafe” in the Kids Care Club name. This donation will assist the Salvation Army in providing for many low-income children who attend their after school daycare and meal program. The partnership with this organization will continue throughout the year. They are currently researching their children’s needs and asking the club members to come up with helpful, charitable ideas for the future.
The December meeting continued as the children opened their shoeboxes filled with gifts. Each member was asked to shop for small items that they would enjoy receiving at the holiday time. Many parents had their children earn their own money to purchase these gifts. Items were carefully packed in their boxes and wrapped in holiday paper that was donated by a local store. Tags identified the appropriate age and sex of the contents of the gifts. Sixty “Holiday Friendship Boxes” were delivered to “Emily’s Place,” the YWCA Crisis Service for battered families. The hands-on serving makes a difference in strengthening the existing social service organizations in their war against human suffering.
JACK SCHUH
Since May 2000 through the present, Jack Schuh has been a Volunteer Leader for the Greater St. Cloud Area Retired and Senior Volunteer Program. As a volunteer leader, Jack serves as the eyes and ears in his community letting RSVP know of emerging community needs and refers potential volunteers to RSVP. In 2000 and 2001, Jack referred twenty-eight seniors to RSVP for enrollment. Jack’s service area is St. Joseph, but his connections in the greater community have brought in volunteers from several communities.
RSVP always has more volunteer opportunities than there are volunteers. We started the Volunteer Leader program as a way for current RSVP volunteers to share the benefits of volunteering and to build our volunteer base. Jack is very connected with many musical groups, exercise groups and social organizations. As he participates in these groups, he shares his joy of volunteering with others and encourages them to get involved. The twenty-eight volunteers Jack recruited for RSVP serve in a variety of settings including nursing homes, the local food shelf, and the Salvation Army. These volunteers he helped recruit are meeting the needs of people of all ages and helping to make their life a little easier.
In June of 2000, Jack became a widower. He and his wife had been active RSVP volunteers since July 1992. When his wife passed away, Jack saw a real need to continue to be active in the community and volunteer. He also saw many other seniors who had lost their spouse and were sitting around with nothing to do. He used his experience with losing his spouse and his love of volunteering to encourage others to volunteer.
I think Jack has really used volunteerism as a way to deal with the loss of his wife. As a couple, they volunteered several days a week at various agencies. Jack knows how important volunteer activity was to his wife and is able to carry on that part of her life for her. Jack often talks about the fact that many people he refers to RSVP have recently lost a spouse. He truly believes that it is the best thing to be among other people, and he conveys to them a sense of fulfillment through volunteerism.
Jack is an active 69-year-old man who is an excellent musician and shares his musical talents with nursing home residents throughout the Greater St. Cloud Area. Jack has been a member of RSVP since July of 1992 and has been involved with a variety of volunteer assignments. These include cablecasting city council meetings for the City of Sauk Rapids; being a greeter for the American Red Cross bloodmobile; safety fair fingerprinter for children; RSVP Advisory Council; Paramount Theatre usher; Inventor’s Fair helper; carpenter for a variety of agencies, and numerous other assignments. Jack’s outstanding people skills and willingness to help, make him a real asset to our program. We are very thankful he is willing to share his experience for the benefit of others.
11-10-02 FOUNDATION
Named after the upcoming 30th birthday (11-10-02) of Greg Forbes Siegman and his belief young people can do anything, The 11-10-02 Foundation (ShakingUpChicago.com) has garnered critical acclaim for turning a lunchbag, a shoebox, some cereal boxes, a laptop computer, a Grandmother’s rocking chair and a couple milkshakes into an unwavering commitment to breaking down racial cultural and social stereotypes, assisting overlooked students with scholarships & empowering young people.
11-10-02’s overriding principle is that everything and everyone– whether it’s a scrap of aluminum, the stitches of a baseball, the splinters of a chair, a simple milkshake or a single child– can become something extraordinary if you are willing to believe in them strongly enough and invest in them deeply enough. Siegman, who was rejected from every Ivy League college he hoped to attend, said, “Everybody is good for something, and yet, people are all too often judged solely by what you can see– the shade of someone’s skin, the shape of their shadow or their score on a test. So 11-10-02 looks for students who have a desire to achieve something and refuse to give up until that thirst is satisfied. Students who are willing to do the best they can with what they have. Students whose worth cannot be measured by numbers. That is true value.”
11-10-02 fulfills its missions through its BrunchBunch.com & ShakingUpChicago.com Programs. Siegman created BrunchBunch.com after he took two of his African-American students for milkshakes & witnessed the woman sitting next to them give the boys a look of disdain & move her purse out of their reach. BrunchBunch.com brings adults & students together over brunch on a weekly basis. 10 to 20 people attend each brunch at restaurants like O’Briens and Maggiano’s & more than 700 people have attended in all. Many like Robert Jericho, Vincent Johnson & Dina Luke and students Corey, Colby, Jovan, Tiffany, Lee & Justin have come for years.
The foundation distributes a series of annual scholarships at its summertime ShakingUpChicago.com Gala. Each “type” of 11-10-02 Scholarship is named after a portion of its logo. Past recipients of 11-10-02 Grants and Scholarships now attend college all over the country including Duane Jackson (George Washington Univ), Ana Vargas & Sir Williams (Northeastern Illinois Univ), Erika King (Univ of Illinois) & Michael Johnson (Duke Univ).
The recipients for 11-10-02’s Scholarships are chosen by the foundation’s four scholarship boards, comprised of a literal Who’s Who in American Business. Samuel K. Skinner (President-Chairman-CEO of USFreightways Corporation and former Chief of Staff to President George Bush), Tonise Paul (President & CEO of BBDO Chicago), Scott Gordon (President & COO, Tokyo Mitsubishi Futures USA), Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (Director of Community & Education Relations, Boeing), Tao Huang (COO, Morningstar Inc), Pamela Forbes Lieberman (CEO, Tru Serv Corp), Dr. Surinder Kumar (CIO, William Wrigley Jr. Company) and Jacob Kiferbaum (President, Kiferbaum Construction Corp) are just a few of the Movers & Shakers who lend their name and time to 11-10-02.
The foundation funds the scholarships through its innovative “Milkshake” Campaign. For $8500, Siegman personally delivers a milkshake to its Buyer– complete with whipped cream and a straw. The Buyer’s used glass is turned into a trophy and given to the student who receives the scholarship named after the Buyer. The likes of Multiplex Clubs CEO Gale Landers, Strategos CEO Peter Skarzynski, NHL Star Chris Chelios, national television Style Correspondent Christy Ferer & LaSalle Bank Senior VP Michael W. Kiss have gulped down one of the civic shakes– a ‘sweet’ tribute to the three shakes that kicked off BrunchBunch.com years earlier. The foundation’s other supporters have included American Family Insurance, Crain’s Chicago Business, David Weinberg, Kinko’s, Brinker International, Kraft Foods, Schiff Hardin & Waite Foundation, Podolsky Northstar Realty Partners, Kane McKenna & Associates, Nordstrom, The Strategic Coach, Bruce Bachmann, Gordon & Karen Millner, AT&T Wireless Services & Peter & Elaine Gutheim.
The principle behind ’11-10-02′ that young people are as capable as anyone has been put into practice thanks to talented interns like Kate O’Donnell (Carmel HS), Matt Canfield (Latin School) and Kirin Swanson (Glenbrook South HS) as well as young adult volunteers like Michelle Meklir of Asperger Caraher LLC, Jonathan Dennis of Catellus Development & Claudia Delgado of Ultra Stores.
With ShakingUpChicago.com around the corner and the foundation’s namesake date (11-10-02) in the Fall, it appears the group is just scratching the surface of looking beyond the surface to find true value in others. For more about The 11-10-02 Foundation, go to www.ShakingUpChicago.com
ZEYAD ELSAYED
Zeyad Elsayed has been administering the College of Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies’ Learning Resource Center at the Florin Mall Shopping Center in south Sacramento, California, since 1998. The project is a unique partnership between a higher education institution (California State University, Sacramento) and a major commercial sector institution, Florin Mall. The Learning Resource Center is better known both on campus and in the community as the Mall Hall.
The purpose of the Mall Hall and, thus, Zeyad’s purpose as Director of Programming, has been to improve the level of computer literacy in south Sacramento, a low-income urban area. A substantial portion of area residents are limited English-speakers. Most have little or no access to training in the use of computer technology. The Mall Hall is a community service project entirely administered and staffed by students from California State University, Sacramento; Florin Mall donates space and utilities.
In the past two years, Zeyad has added 18 new computers to Mall Hall’s original 12-station network through fund raising and working collaboratively with the community. All computers are connected to the Internet. He also succeeded in establishing morning orientation sessions at the facility where members of the community can learn how to use computers to help them in today’s job market. The facility offers a safe and quiet environment for school children doing homework. In addition to serving junior high and high school students, the Mall Hall serves a wide range of adults, including women in welfare-to-work training programs and senior citizens.
Zeyad has met the challenge of staffing the Mall Hall with able, paid instructors recruited from the university’s student body, and successfully acquired corporate donations to fund proposed programs. In addition, he secured the resources needed to switch from a dial-up service to a faster DSL Internet service. He has been able to maintain the commitment to providing all of the services totally free, as a benefit to the public. The Mall Hall programs allow CSUS students to participate in educating others who are less fortunate in acquiring a formal education. Many high school students at the Center are empowered by Zeyad and the other student staff members. Many have eventually decided that college is the best route for them to take in making a future for themselves.
Zeyad has also played an important role in helping these high school students gather and process all the information needed to start down the higher education path. The Learning Resource Center was established to help address the “digital divide” in Sacramento. Zeyad is fulfilling this mission and helping the people of this underserved community to reach for a brighter future.
